Checkmate
by SoundlessWorld
Summary: A prince. A slave. Their path is fated to cross, and when they do, chaos is released. AU
1. Pawn- Prologue

**Hullo readers, been a while huh? Hehe. I know I'm supposed to work on my other stories, but this one was too tempting to **_**not**_** write. This take place in an AU universe. I hope you enjoy! Remember to drop a review! Or two… XD**

_**-Pawn-**_

_**Sawara Town, Japan. **_

Far, far away in Japan, there was a small trading village near a river. The Sawara Town was a transport hub for the capital, deporting supplements of high-quality rice. This town was among the oldest villages in Japan, founding in the Great Edo Era, the village was a good source of economy. Most of the vehicles was produced and built in the Sawarian owned factories in a downtown mining town. While it wasn't the best of the best, it did the work almost perfectly.

It was small compared to other nearby towns but it was thriving with the merchants and trade ships, and the village was often busy, almost never silent with expectations for the very late nights.

Sawara Town was dominated by the three main families that had founded the very village all of those years ago. The Goya Clan, the Ishimoto Clan, and lastly the Akasutsumi Clan. But this tale is not about a strong and firm warrior, but a young red-haired slave girl in the Akasutsumi Clan.

**_C_**

"Slave! Get up!" The girl groaned from the floor, her crimson hair was tangled and dirty from the floor. She opened her foggy pink eyes that she was often ridiculed by the maids for. The tiny slave quickly got up before the headmaid had her whipped again. After putting away her thin and dirty blanket, the red-headed girl entered the kitchen for her chores. She hoped that her tardy won't be noticed by the headmaid.

"Now remember slaves, we have guests from the merchant family, so the service and food must be top-notch. Understand? Go!" The servants quickly scattered like mice to cheese as they went to cook and to prepare for the upcoming breakfast. The red-haired wasn't able to sneak her way to finish her work quietly before the headmaid called her.

"You! Come here." The large woman ordered, her brown eyes sharp and held a tiredness in them. The girl walked to the headmaid, her head down. "How old are you?"

"Almost sixteen."

"What was that?"

"Almost sixteen Mistress Doi."

"Your name?"

"M-Momoko." The red-haired replied and added hurriedly. "Mistress Doi."

"Momoko, one more tardiness, and you will be whipped. Got that?" Momoko nodded. "Now go slave!" The mistress ordered.

"Yes Mistress Doi!" Momoko bowed before quickly returning to her chores.

_**C**_

Balancing the food on the tray that she was holding with both hands, Momoko walked into the grand dining room. A chandelier decorated the ceiling, its bright lights reached every nooks and crannies in the room, and the room was decorated in the colors of the Akasutsumi Clan, blue and gold. Hastily making her way to the guests, the Shirogane family. A family of four but only two was present, the mother and the youngest daughter, Himeko Shirogane.

Kneeling down so she could give the guests their meal, eggs with meat jerky from a beast that she didn't know the name of, and some toasted bread. She was just returning to the kitchen when the heiress grab control of her wrist, Momoko gasped not expecting for the sudden contact. She looked at the heiress, a busty, buxom lady with large frizzly brown hair, and she swore that her pupils was shaped as a star.

"I don't want this, I want a salad." Himeko said. "Well? Go slave!" Momoko bowed down and left the room quicker than a mouse getting the cheese.

**_C_**

It wasn't until sunset that her work was done, Momoko sighed as she laid on her 'bed', her chores involved clean the hallways, cleaning the dining room after breakfast, clean the Akasutsumi Mistress's room, clean the hallways again, help cook for afternoon meal, help pick the tea leaves, boil the leaves for the evening tea, and clean up after the tea time. That was the typical daily life of orphan Momoko's life. When she retired for the night at the slave's quarters, she usually shared with three other slaves, Kuriko who she loved as a sister, Hana and Ana. Her bed was the floor and a second-handed blanket with air for pillow. Regardless of her lowly life, she was happy serving the Akasutsumi Clan otherwise she might had ended up in an alley dead a long time ago.

But Momoko wished that she was part of something bigger, little did she knew, her wish would be granted.

**_C_**

Outside of the Akasutsumi compounds, shadow figures quickly made their way under the bushes, hiding out of view. Two pairs of red eyes scanned their surrounding before breaking in the gates of the compound.

"My Prince, I know this is supposed to be your first hunt but your father insisted for me to come with you." The taller man told his pair. His pair, however, responded with a scowl on his handsome features that suited his red hair and matching red eyes.

"I believe that my father has no say in what is supposed my first solo, now go, you know this isn't my first kill. I can do this alone." The red-haired replied. The taller man hesitated before sighing, nodding.

"My Prince, I will back out now if that is what you wish." The man bowed before sneaking back outside of the gates where he stand in wait for his prince. The red-haired prince quickly hid in the darkness where his crimson hair won't give him away to the guards. He found an open window that led to the kitchen. Jumping on the wooden floor silently, he walked within the shadows, his open red eyes bright in the darkness, his sharp ears open to any noise.

Walking silently to a grand doors and opening them with no noise, the prince entered the room grinning, his sharp fangs gleamed in the moonlight.

**_C_**

Momoko woke up with a gasp. She checked if she had woken any of her sleeping roommates, but felt relief when they was sleeping safe and soundly.

That feeling just now… Momoko put a hand on her racing heart, feeling it beat against her hand. She glanced out of the window to stare at the main compound. Something was amiss, she could feel it. With newfound determination she didn't know she had, she stood up from her bed and left the slave quarters to where the main quarters was, mindful of the sleepy guards.

**_C_**

Licking his blood stained lips as he heard the Akasutsumi Head's heartbeat slowing to a stop because his body just simply didn't have enough blood to keep the body running and alive. Seeing that he had finished his job, he ran a hand over where he had sucked the blood out of, and the bite marks vanished. He was relaxed and had let his guard down as he felt the blood rush through his body, giving his body the high feeling. He wasn't expecting to hear a gasp from the doors, snapping his head toward the noise he saw a slave girl standing there with the doors open. Her pink eyes, a rare color he noted, was wide and almost emotionlessly, her hand was over her mouth, she was trying to get through her shock of seeing the dead man. A shriek made through her throat, but before she shrieked for help, the prince had his hands over her mouth, stiffing any noise. But it was too late, he heard more footsteps heading where he was with the girl.

With a snarl, he knocked the girl unconscious and heaved her over his shoulder as he jumped out of the window in the master room just in time as people entered the room. Hearing their cries, he sped up to outside the gates where his servant was. His servant stared at him with a confused frown but he followed the red-haired prince into the shadows, out of sight.

**_C_**

"_What is this?"_ The King roared, his furious red eyes staring at the small unconscious slave. "_She's a human. Execute her_."

"Yes Father." The Prince said.

"_And next time, when I say you go solo, you go solo. If I say you go with others, you go with others. Understand boy_?" His father said.

"Yes Father." The Prince bowed and took the slave girl out of the throne room.

**_C_**

Upon entering one of the many rooms in the palace, the Prince laid the slave's body on the hard, cold stone floor. She was very thin and pale, her red hair dull and dirty. He sighed and leaned to her level where he hovered above just between the collarbone and the neck where the most blood usually reside. The Prince then bit her, drinking her blood, it was a strange combination of spice and something sweet. He was surprised that her body seemed to be mostly healthy since she clearly had no nutrition attention when growing up. Her pale and thin body was such examples of lack of nutrition. When he felt that he had taken enough blood for her body to shut down, he withdrawn from her body and left the room to call some servants to clean the mess. Just before he left, the Prince looked back to her body, he sighed and processed on his way.

**_C_**

Black. That was all she saw. And a heavy feeling was gnawing inside of her stomach and throat, and her body felt like it was on fire all over. Momoko felt her body in a swaying motion as if she was being carried. She tried to open her eyes but it was almost as if they were glued shut. The burning in her stomach and throat seemed to only increase more the longer she was stuck in the unending blackness coma. Scents soon invalided her nose, it was too much, she could smell the freshly cut roses and the cleaning chemicals that had been applied to the floor some time ago, and the scent of blood. Blood, now it was the only thing her mind was repeating as she focused where the scent came from. Her head went wild as she smelt the blood everywhere, her blood on herself, one of the maids had a large supply inside of her body.

And now it was too loud. She felt the larger servants carrying her, she didn't have to focus her hearing, and she could hear them without trying. '_Poor girl', 'I heard that the King ordered for her to be immediately executed…', 'Apparently the Prince found her on his hunt, the one that he was supposed to go solo…'_ What King? Are they talking about me? What hunt? Momoko wanted to scream, but she couldn't, her mouth was motionless as the servants carried her to the disposal room.

Momoko felt her fingers twitch as she tried to find that something her hunger was yearning for. _Blood. I want blood_. The scent was a lingering siren as she tried to move so she could reach, so her hunger would stop.

'_Hey, is she moving?', 'No Arya, you're just imaging thing. I think it must be the stress.', 'Oh okay…' _She clenched her fist, her hunger pangs was much, much worse than before, all of the servants was human, and their blood rich and delicious. _'Holy shit, she moved! I saw her!', 'What in the world?'_

Her vermillion colored eyes snapped open.

_**C**_

It hurt everywhere. That was her first thought before she moved her body to try and ease her pain, what she didn't expected to feel something soft over her body and under her head. Momoko blinked her eyes open, her eyes widening as she looked at the gorgeous silver and crimson themed room. The soft thing was a beautiful red silk blankets paired with feather stuffed pillow.

"What?" She muttered sleepily rubbing her eyes, this must be a dream.

"I'm afraid not, Miss." Momoko squeaked, she hadn't see the man entering her room. He was tall and thin, dressed in doctor's clothing. He had almost poofy black hair and soft black eyes. He smiled. "Hello Miss. I'm Dr. Utonium, how are you feeling?"

"My head hurts, where am I?" She asked.

"At the palace. Miss. Now please open your mouth." He ordered. Momoko frowned but opened her mouth. The man poked the front teeth where a throbbing pain was, he seemed to be satisfied with his discovery and took some notes on his papers.

"W-What happened? Why am I here?" The man stopped writing and stared at her, and then sighed.

"Look like I'll have to explain. Alright. Answer me this Miss. Do you remember anything last night?"

"Uh…" Momoko squeezed her eyes shut and tried to remember but her headache were just too much and she moaned, shaking her head. The man swallowed heavily and sighed again.

"Well uh," He stammered, trying to figure to explain. "You see, um, er…" But the man was saved by the sound of the doors opening. Dr. Utonium got up from where he was sitting and bowed. "Prince Brick." The Prince stood in the door, his piercing crimson eyes was targeted on where Momoko was lying on the bed, Momoko gulped feeling intimated by his gaze which never left her.

"Leave us Utonium." He ordered. Dr. Utonium bowed again and gathered his things and hurriedly got out of the door. Now he and she was alone in the room.

He stared.

She stared back.

He stared.

She looked down at her hands, it seemed tinier and paler than she remember. Momoko heard a sigh from the Prince and some shuffling as he walked to the chair next to the bed and sat.

"Girl, look at me." He told her.

She looked at him. "Momoko." She muttered.

"What?"

"My name is Momoko, not girl."

"_Momoko_." He stared at her eyes. Momoko stared at his vivid crimson eyes, and suddenly she remember last night. She groaned holding her head as the memories rushed into her head. She remember killing those servants and the maids, after killing them her hunger wasn't still satisfied so she went off searching for more. She tore anyone who was in her way, she faintly recalling that several of them was low-class vampire. Walking down a hallway, she still didn't know where she was going, her instincts and nose was leading her the way. She had broken down a sturdy looking door with a strength she didn't knew she had, she kept marching like a robot searching for something that she wanted, no, she _needed_.

When she had walked over the remains of the door that she'd just broke through, she had the attention of the Prince. He was just finishing his business, he had killed some of the traitors that was planning to rebel against his father. He stared at her, surprised. Momoko caught his scent, and she now knew what her body was desiring, his blood. Suddenly from the place she was standing on, she was now drinking from him. The Prince groaned from the sudden force and tried to force her off him, but she had a strong hold on him that he couldn't break free from.

His blood was much more delicious than the others, the others tasted almost plain and tasteless, but him. Oh Kami, his tasted strongly of cinnamon, an addiction that she never would want to get rid of. After seemed what like eternity, she had her fill and finally withdrew. But when she withdrew, she blackened out.

"Oh," Momoko was holding her forehead with her hands. "But why?" She asked.

"Why?" The Prince arched one of his thin eyebrows. "Why what exactly? I can't read minds you know."

"Why did this happen? To me? I thought I was supposed to be dead?" She muttered quietly, but it was loud enough for the Prince's abnormal sharp ears to catch.

"You are technically dead. How did you became a vampire is beyond me, the chances of that happening was near zero percent." He said. "But my father doesn't know of this, nor of the incident that you caused when you woke in your hunger for blood. No, he will never know, he thinks that the rebels had gotten inside, but I killed them. That's all to it."

"But, what about me? Wouldn't your father recognize me? He think I'm rotting somewhere, not here in a bedroom."

"That, I've already taken care of." He said. "You'll be living with Dr. Utonium, the doctor you saw earlier, and his family. He has plenty of space, plus his home is out of the vampire capital, so no one will recognize you. He will return shortly to take you back to his home."

"Oh. Wait, vampires? I thought they were just legends."

He laughed humorlessly, standing from where he sat. "We aren't just myths, we are real. Remember you're one of us now." He said before leaving Momoko in the scarlet and silver room alone.

_**C**_

"So Miss, I didn't catch your name back there. I'm John Utonium." He said, his hands on the driving wheel as they drove out of the Capital. She sat in the back seat, with crossed arms. Momoko was her slave name given to her by her bosses. But her now dead mother had named her something different when she was a little.

"Blossom, my name is Blossom." She told the man.

**_C_**

_Check_

**_C_**

**So… Your thoughts? And if anyone's interested, a poll is on my profile if you want to vote. Check it out will you?**


	2. Rook Part I- The Burning City

**Hello again guys. Welcome to the second chapter of Checkmate, Rook Part I. If you have any questions concerning this story or other of my stories, please PM me or write it on the review box. Thank you. **

**As some of you guys noticed, I changed my penname. I was getting tired of it, so naturally I got a new one! :) **** I hope I didn't cause any confusion, hehe. (Was Noodles830 before)**

_**-Rook-**_

_**-The Burning City-**_

_**C**_

The city was burning.

The streets in chaos.

People screaming.

"We want King Mojo dead! We want King Mojo dead!" The riot roared. "Bring him down! For our children's freedom!" They had gathered front of the gates of the Nox Palatium in hopes of their freedom granted. The Nox Royal Guard struggled to keep the riot at bay.

At the palace balcony, the king and his honored guest stood, watching the chaos. The king, a man in his early fifties with greying black hair and vermillion eyes watched the riot. The smoke from the fire had risen to the skies, he was certain that anyone could see it from hundreds of miles away. His guest stood behind him, his skin as red as blood and his eyes was green as grass. The red skinned man stood out of place with his strange mime-like clothing.

"If only I could have control of all of my people, I could've defeated the other kings and reign the whole Dark Continent." King Mojo muttered to himself and to his guest. A silence held the air for a moment.

"Let's make another deal, no?" The red skinned man offered, his mouth lifting into a maniac grin.

_**C **_

_**One week earlier…**_

Blossom stepped out of the car as she stared at her new home in wonder. It was a large two story white house with neatly trimmed brushes on the yard. The windows was clear and shiny. She was sure that she saw a large dome-like building connected to the house when the car had drove up the road. It was strange, Blossom thought, she had grew up in a crowded city with barely enough room to move freely. But this was a completely new world. The house was surrounded by so much green that the scent was almost overpowering.

She slowly walked up the steps, her lilac pink eyes scanned her new surroundings. Blossom's advanced hearing could faintly hear a child in the distance, if she looked closely where the flower field was she could make out three moving figures. By the time she had reached the door, John had already unlocked and entered the house.

Inside the house stole her breath away, it was gorgeous. Even more than the Akasutsumi Manor. The room beyond her was so large, so large it could basically fit all of the citizens of Sawara Village. The walls a deep ocean blue, the wooden floor was polished down to the last layer that she could see her reflection. Her dream kitchen stood at the corner of the room with a table for six between the two combined rooms.

Blossom didn't realize that she was grinning until her cheeks ached.

"Blossom, would you please follow me to your room?" She jolted, she hadn't heard him coming, even with her new advanced hearing.

'H-hai." She stuttered. After calming her nerves, she followed John upstairs. On the way up, Blossom looked at the picture frames adoring the wall. One of those she inspected closely, it was an old picture of John and another man with light red colored hair and vivid green eyes, their arms thrown each other's shoulders and grinning at the picture.

"Blossom?" John's voice snapped her back to reality.

"Oh sorry." She rushed up the stairs to her new room.

It was a modest bedroom, with light tan walls and soft chocolate shag carpet. A desk was under the only window in her room and her twin bed was the opposite side from the door. But it meant a lot to her, her own room for the first time in her life. One that wasn't fill of filth covering the floor.

"It's beautiful. Thank you John-sensei." She bowed.

"Don't worry about it and just please call me John." He smiled cheerfully, "Dinner will be in an hour. Until then, make yourself at home."

"Thank you." She returned the smile. Blossom waited until John had left and she closed the door. Silence. Then she let out a loud squeal and jumped on her back on the bed. Laughing, she couldn't believe it, no longer was she living that miserable life of hers in the mortal world. But yet there was still a sinking feeling in her stomach… Probably just the hunger.

_**C**_

She spent the rest of her time decorating her new room, John's wife, Sarah had brought some boxes from years of traveling in the mortal world. She had told Blossom that she was welcome to ask for more if she wanted. Dinner went by and passed without hassle, she had met John and Sarah's son Ken. Their daughter Buttercup was still hunting in the woods couple miles from the house.

After dinner she had helped Sarah to clean up and washed the dishes. While she was rinsing the soap suds off the dishes the front door opened and slammed loudly that she almost dropped the dish. The teenager ran up the stairs before she could get a better view. But Blossom knew for certain that the teenager was the daughter that John and Sarah had talked about.

The front door opened again and John entered, Blossom pointed to the stairs and John nodded thanking her before walking upstairs.

Blossom sighed and continued washing the dishes. When she finished putting the china back in the cabinets, she walked upstairs to her room. On the way she passed a green door, it was open and she peeked through the crack. John's tall frame blocked her view, she groaned silently. She almost gasped when she felt a tug on her pants. She looked down to the cocker spaniel, Peach. Blossom sighed and held a hand to her chest. Kneeling down, she gathered the small dog into her arms and carried him to her room.

"You gave me a fright." She berated Peach as she held him front of her face. "What would we do if we got caught?" She giggled when Peach licked her nose in reply.

"I would kill you." The sudden appearance behind Blossom made her screech at the top of her lungs. She clutched the spooked cocker spaniel tightly in her arms. It was the teenager from earlier. She was laughing. The teenager had short, choppy, black hair and sharp harlequin colored eyes.

"What happened?" John questioned concerned. "I heard you scream. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just got scared there for a moment." Blossom muttered, putting Peach down. The frightened cocker spaniel skittered through and hid in Ken's bedroom. The teenager girl was still laughing, her eyes filled with mirth.

"Buttercup." John asked the laughing teenager.

"Yeah sorry dad, it was me." She snickered. "Nice to meet you Begonia."

"It's Blossom." She called to Buttercup's retreating form.

"Yeah sure."

_**C**_

The next day, Blossom walked to the weapon shed where Buttercup was most of the time. The dark-haired teenager was outside, cleaning what looked like a saber sword. Blossom remembered that the soldiers in her old village had similar swords.

"What?" Buttercup asked not even looking up from her weapon.

"Um, Buttercup-sama I was wondering if I could accompany you on your hunts." She asked. Blossom was curious about the woods and wanted to explore the unknown.

This time Buttercup looked up. "No."

"Oh okay." Feeling disgruntled, Blossom turned and walked back to the house.

Buttercup stared at her and sighed.

"Hey!" She called. "You know why I said no?" Blossom shook her head. "It's because you obviously had no training at all. Lack of experience, that'll get you killed in the woods."

"But?"

"For a price, I can train you." Buttercup finished. Blossom looked at her, she didn't know the black-haired teenager that well but she knew from one look that she was unpredictable and dangerous, even deadly.

"What price?"

"Do my chores then we have a deal." She smirked and held out a gloved hand. Blossom shook it and wondered what she had gotten into.

_**C**_

For the next few days, she was tortured into painful training. Laps around the whole property, which was almost 20 kilometers and she had to do them under ten minutes or doing them again and again. She had to push trees over, not an easy feat even with her supernatural strength. And then she had to train with Buttercup using brass knuckles. By the end of the day she was usually covered with bruises.

"Look, if you call me _Buttercup-sama_ again for the millionth time, I will make you run around the whole property. Just call me Buttercup." Buttercup had said, annoyed by the honorific.

Despite the rough training, Blossom knew that in the end that it would be worth it.

_**C**_

The next night, Blossom woke to screams. She sat up and kneeled over the window. Her bubble-gum colored eyes widened when she saw people outside lighting the weapon shed on fire. She could hear their shouts. '_Burn the house down!_' Her chest tightened in horror.

Her bedroom door slammed open and thick, black smoke entered. Buttercup emerged through the smoke and grabbed her hand. She pulled them into the smoke filled hallway.

"What's happening?" She coughed. The firm grip on her hand never loosed.

"Haven't you heard?" Buttercup snapped, "It's the war brewing in Nox, the rebels are attacking all people that has served under the king. John works under the king as his scientist; that's why we're being attacked! Now come on!" They hurried down the stairs and into the hallway that led to the laboratory.

"Wait," She panicked, "What about John, Sarah and Ken?"

"They took another escape route underground. We're on our own until we reach the safe house." Buttercup replied and released her hand to unlock the lab door. However, after entering the combination required to open the door incorrect multiples times, Buttercup roared out in frustration and kicked the door open. The door was designed to resist vampire strength but clearly it wasn't Buttercup-proof.

Blossom followed Buttercup to a large robot-like vehicle.

"Get in!" Buttercup told her as she ran to the wall and pushed the garage doors open. Sprinting back to the vehicle.

Upon entering the car, Buttercup put in the keys and turned. The vehicle shuddered.

"Powering up the DYNAMO… Please wait a moment…" It droned.

"Put on your seatbelt!" Buttercup ordered as she pressed different color buttons on the ceiling. Blossom fumbled with the belt before attaching with a _click_. Blossom heard the shouts outside._ 'Don't let them escape!'_

"Buttercup!"

"I know!"

"DYNAMO is ready for flight. Have a-" Buttercup slammed on the gas. Blossom's head slammed back from the force as DYNAMO picked speed. The vehicle shook before taking flight into the night. Higher and higher they went into the air until the burning house was gone from their view.

_**C**_

**The next update date is on my profile! Hopeful I'll be able to update by then. Busy schedule you know, the usual. ^^ And I'm lazy too. Ta! **

**Please do review my loyal readers. **** More Reviews=Quicker updates. A good deal no?**

**Next chapter: Rook Part II- Rapunzel **

**Nox Palatium- Night Palace (Latin) AKA the Vampire Palace.**

**EXTRA SCENE: Not related to the main storyline at all. Just for laughs.**

"So let me get this clear, basically every vampire legend is not true?" Blossom asked from the soft green beanbag. She and Buttercup was relaxing on a Saturday in Buttercup's bedroom.

"Pretty much." Buttercup replied from her bed, munching on some popcorn.

"We can walk in the sun? Cross running water? Touch holy water? Eat garlic? Survive a wood sake through the heart?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yeah but I don't like the taste, never tried it." Buttercup paused. "You know we can test that, I'm pretty sure I have some stakes-"

"Uh no, thanks." Blossom interfered with a sweat drop.

"Your loss."


End file.
